Seattle Gets Healthy

Photo: © Marvin E. Newman/Getty Images

An Unhealthy Surprise

Although Seattle has a reputation for being a relatively fit and healthy city, this wasn't the case in all neighborhoods. The southern part of Seattle and neighboring communities in King County had strikingly unhealthy statistics: In 2001, diabetes deaths among African-Americans there were higher than those in the nation's 10 largest counties; 82% of adults didn't exercise regularly; 75% didn't eat the recommended five servings of fruits and vegetables daily; and 54% were overweight or obese.

Alarmed by these numbers, local public health officials spearheaded a coalition that included researchers from the University of Washington, Washington State University, local government officials, hospitals and health insurance companies, who started working together to make changes. The first meeting of about 200 people outlined obstacles to healthy eating and exercise—like buildings with locked stairwells, subdivisions without sidewalks, and offices without lockers or showers for employees who want to bike to work.

"When we saw the opportunity to bring resources into the unhealthiest areas, we jumped at the chance," says James Krieger, MD, MPH, chief of chronic disease and injury prevention at Public Health-Seattle & King County. So with $9.5 million in funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Public Health-Seattle & King County established Steps to Health King County. With Dr. Krieger as the director, Steps to Health funded dozens of programs aimed at making physical activity and healthy eating easy, ranging from bike safety classes and diabetes and heart-health programs in churches to swim aerobics programs at community centers free of cost.

Bringing Healthy Cooking Home

One cornerstone of the movement is a network of 16 community kitchens in which neighborhood residents meet to cook healthy food. Nurse Diana Vergis Vinh, a program manager in the Steps to Health initiative, was one of several people involved with starting the kitchens. "You get a group together cooking and interacting to show them how easy, fun and enjoyable healthy eating really is."

Nutritionists and community members who lead the kitchens also show residents how to make healthier versions of their traditional cultural foods so they'll have more options for cooking healthy at home. (King County is very ethnically diverse, with residents speaking at least 59 different languages.) "The ethnic foods are a draw, bringing people back to cooking foods they know and like," says registered dietitian Leika Suzumura, RD, who leads the Rainier Valley kitchen.

Fast-Forward to 2011

"Steps to Health laid the groundwork for ongoing changes in our community," says Dr. Krieger. As of 2009, the number of children in the Steps to Health areas eating five servings of produce daily was 20% higher than in the rest of King County, while the number who were buying soda and snack foods at school was 17% lower. Eighty-three percent of people in church-based diabetes and heart-health programs are eating healthier and getting more physical activity. 
And perhaps the best part: Many programs developed under Steps to Health, including a revamped physical education curriculum and healthier school menus, are being rolled out in all Seattle public schools, and others, like the kitchens, are still going strong. Says Dr. Krieger: "The initiative proved to us that one of the most effective ways to help people be healthier is to change the environment they live in."